Team Usa

The Sports Xchange Gio Gonzalez joins Team USA Weeks after his name was tied to a South Florida clinic that reportedly supplied performance-enhancing drugs to baseball players, Washington Nationals left-hander Gio Gonzalez accepted an invitation to pitch for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic next month. Gonzalez, 27, denied having any connection with Biogenesis, which reportedly supplied PEDs to New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, among others. The Team USA rotation...

As honorary consul of the Kingdom of Belgium in Chicago, Paul Van Halteren gets invited to plenty of places around town. Usually, Van Halteren loves representing his native country with pride and without feeling uncomfortable or inhibited — something nobody can guarantee if he accepts Tuesday's invitation to watch the U.S.-Belgium World Cup game at the University Club on East Monroe. "I don't know, I'd be like a lamb to the wolves with all those U.S. fans around me," Van...

Joe Torre will manage Team USA in the 2013 World Baseball Classic, MLB.com reported. Torre won four World Series championships as the New York Yankees skipper during a managerial career that spanned 29 years. He is currently Major League Baseball's executive vice president for baseball operations. The announcement was made Thursday night at a fundraiser for Torre's charity, the Safe at Home Foundation. "Managing is in your system," he said. "I don't want to do it as a full-time job...

Derrick Rose not recruiting Carmelo Anthony isn't a surprise. Derrick Rose saying he hasn't fully committed to participating in July's USA Basketball minicamp is. Rose told Yahoo Sports on Sunday he remains uncertain if he will participate in the camp, which begins July 28 in Las Vegas and from which the U.S. World Cup team will be selected. "I still don't know yet," Rose said, speaking after surprising former teammate Drew Gooden at his basketball camp near...

Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau will be part of the United States' next bid for Olympic basketball glory. Thibodeau was named Monday as an assistant coach for the USA Basketball men's national team, along with Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim and New Orleans Pelicans coach Monty Williams. Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, winner of back-to-back Olympic championships with a 62-1 record, will return as head coach. "It's truly an honor," Thibodeau said. "I've been talking to Jerry Colangelo and Mike...

The last summer of the Bulls inhabiting the Berto Center is the first summer of Derrick Rose's second act. For weeks now, Rose has been playing five-on-five, taking full contact on his surgically-repaired knees and preparing to attend USA Basketball's late-July minicamp in Las Vegas in the hopes of making the World Cup team that will compete in Spain in late August through early September. The offseason full court scrimmaging, not to mention working out in his hometown,...

The Sports Xchange NBA Team Report - New Orleans Hornets - GETTING INSIDE Hornets top pick Anthony Davis was happy merely to have been part of Team USA's workouts prior to the Olympic Games. In a late twist, he apparently will be part of the team in London as a replacement for injured Clippers forward Blake Griffin. Griffin left the Team USA training camp July 12 because of a knee injury, and he'll miss the Olympic Games. The Los Angeles Times reported the injury is a torn...

The Sports Xchange Royals happy to grab Finnegan with 17th pick Left-hander Brandon Finnegan, who went 0-8 as a TCU sophomore, was the Royals' first pick, 17th overall in the draft. After that disappointing sophomore season, Finnegan went 8-3 with a 2.07 ERA, held opposing hitters to a .206 average and topped the nation with 12.02 strikeouts per nine innings as a junior. Finnegan is not big at 5-foot-11, 185 pounds, but he has a big fastball, clocked at 93-98 miles per...

The Sports Xchange EditorsNote: fixing typo on "Verlander's" in third graf Verlander might replace Pettitte on Team USA Andy Pettitte is out, but Justin Verlander might be in. Pettitte bowed out of the World Baseball Classic leaving an open spot on the U.S. squad that is in need of another starting pitcher. And according to CBSSports.com, Verlander "would love to be on the team. " Verlander is expected to make a decision by Feb. 20. The final decision is based on how...

The Sports Xchange MLB Team Report - Texas Rangers - INSIDE PITCH Apparently, the Texas Rangers didn't spend long deliberating the 30th pick of Thursday night's draft when they took Sanger (Calif.) High School right-hander Luis Ortiz. Texas felt like they stole one that late in the first round. "He's performed on all the biggest stages," Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said. "We took him 30th in the country, obviously, but we liked him as a top-half elite kind of talent.

The Sports Xchange Reports: Dickey, Braun, Mauer will play for Team USA R.A. Dickey, Ryan Braun and Joe Mauer will headline Team USA in March during the World Baseball Classic, according to multiple media reports. Dickey, a knuckleball-throwing right-hander won the 2012 National League Cy Young Award for the New York Mets before he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays in the offseason. Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Braun won the 2011 NL Most Valuable Player and was...

The Cubs threw a curve but still addressed two needs Thursday night when they selected left-handed hitting catcher Kyle Schwarber of Indiana with the fourth overall pick in the amateur draft. Schwarber, 21, whom Baseball America listed as the 17th top prospect, was ranked second on the Cubs' list, according to Jason McLeod, the Cubs' vice president of scouting and player development. "It has been an awesome last couple days," Schwarber said in a conference call at a golf course in...

The Sports Xchange EditorsNote: updating that Griffin needs arthroscopic surgery, out 8 weeks, according to a report Clippers' Griffin injures left knee; Davis joins Team USA All-Star forward Blake Griffin left the Team USA training camp Wednesday because of a knee injury and the injury reportedly will sideline him for about eight weeks. The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday the injury is a torn meniscus that will require arthroscopic surgery and keep him out of action for...

Mike Krzyzewski woke up early Saturday, elated to do something he rarely can. The Duke and USA Olympic men's basketball coach, winner of two gold medals and four NCAA national championships, went on a tour of his old haunts on the city's Northwest side. He met his sister-in-law for a "nostalgic tour" and they visited the grave sites of his brother and his parents, his alma mater, the now-closed Weber High School, and his old house on the 2000 block of West Cortez Street. "I hope...

MINNEAPOLIS - In 2008, Dwyane Wade rehabilitated his surgically-repaired left knee in Chicago, receiving periodic visits from USA Basketball Chairman Jerry Colangelo. "Although he wasn't quite ready, I went with him (for the Olympic team)," Colangelo said in a phone interview. "And he turned out to be maybe our best player when we won gold at the (Beijing) Olympics. " The Bulls must hope history repeats itself. USA Basketball announced Wednesday a three-day stop in...

A world-class swimmer and 2016 Olympic hopeful showed up at a Crystal Lake banquet hall Sunday morning to surprise a 13-year-old boy who in February was the target of an alleged hate crime in his Crystal Lake middle school. BJ Johnson, 26, a USA National Swim Team member, flew in to Chicago on Sunday morning from his home in California just to tell Omid Babakhani that his “swim family” from across the country supports him in his recovery and encourages his return...